Velvet
by whudduppp
Summary: She was the clueless sister of the two, she was an innocent human who thought vampires and shape-shifters were myths. Her sister is engaged to a vampire and the boy she is madly in-love with is a wolf. Paul Lahote/OC
1. Chapter 1

I suddenly caught the unmistakable scent of a smoking burner rising from the kitchen. In another house, the fact that someone besides me was cooking might not be the cause for panicking. The jar of spaghetti sauce Charlie had stuck in the microwave was only on its first revolution when I yanked the door open and pulled it out. "What did I do wrong?" Charlie demanded. "You're supposed to take the lid off first, Dad. Metal's bad for microwaves." I swiftly removed the lid as I spoke, poured half the sauce into a bowl, and then put the bowl inside the microwave and jar back in the fridge; I fixed the time and pressed start. Charlie watched my adjustments with pursed lips. "Did I get the noodles right?" I looked at the pan on the stove- the source of the smell that alerted her. "Stirring helps," I said mildly. I found a spoon and tried to de-clump the mushy hunk that was scalded to the bottom. Charlie sighed. "So what's this all about?" I asked him. He folded his arms across his chest and glared out the back windows into the sheeting rain, "Don't know what you're talking about," He grumbled. I was mystified. My dad cooking? And what was with the surly attitude? Edward and Bella hadn't arrived yet; usually Charlie reserved this kind of behavior for my soon to be brother-in-law's benefit, doing his best to illustrate the theme of "unwelcome" with every word and posture. "Did I miss something? Since when do you make dinner?" I asked Charlie. The pasta lump bobbed in the boiling water as I poked it. "Or _try _to make dinner, I should say." Charlie shrugged. "There's no law that says I can't cook in my own house." I chuckled, "You would know." I joked. "Ha. Good one." I prodded the noodles in silence, guessing that Charlie would get around to talking about whatever was bothering him in his own time. My dad was not a man of many words, and the effort he had put into trying to orchestrate a sit-down dinner with me made it clear there were an uncharacteristic number of words on his mind. My dad sat down at the table with a grunt and unfolded the damp newspaper there; within seconds he was clucking his tongue in disapproval. I gave up on saving dinner and settled for serving it; I had to use a steak knife to cut a portion of spaghetti for Charlie and then myself; while he watched with a sheepish expression. Charlie coated his helping with sauce and dug in. I disguised my own clump as well as I could and followed his example with much enthusiasm. We ate in silence for a moment. Charlie was still scanning the news, so I picked up my much-abused copy of _Wuthering Heights_ from where I'd left it this morning at breakfast, and tried to lose myself in turn-of-the-century England while I waited for him to start talking.


	2. Chapter 2

I heard a voice so I looked up from my applications that I was drowned in, and yanked an earphone out. "Pardon?" I questioned Charlie who sat across the table from me. "I said you've got some mail," Charlie repeated, "It's by the stove." He shoved his chair away from the table and stretched as he got to his feet. He took his plate to the sink, but before he turned the water on to rinse it, he paused to toss a thick envelope at me. The letter skidded across the table and _thunked _into my elbow. "Er, thanks," I muttered, puzzled by his pushiness. Then I saw the return address- the letter was from the University of Alaska Southeast. "That was quick. I guess I missed the deadline on that one, too." Charlie chuckled. I flipped the envelope over and then glared up at him. "It's open." He shrugged, "I was curious." I gasped, "I'm shocked, Sheriff. That's a federal crime." He rolled his eyes, "Oh, just read it." I pulled out the letter, and a folded schedule of courses. "Congratulations," he said before I could read anything. "Your first acceptance." "Thanks, Dad." I popped an Advil tablet into my mouth, "We should talk about tuition. I've got some money saved up-" I cut him off, "Hey, hey, none of that. I'm not touching your retirement, Dad. I've got my college fund." What was left of it- and there hadn't been much to begin with. Charlie frowned. "Some of these places are pretty pricey, Heidi. I want to help." I shook my head, "I've got it covered. Besides, there's lots of financial aid out there. It's easy to get loans." I hoped my bluff wasn't too obvious. I hadn't actually done a lot of research on the subject. Charlie opened his mouth once again but the front door creaked open and there stood Bella and her fiance, Edward.


	3. Chapter 3

I felt oddly depressed as I walked from Spanish towards the cafeteria, mostly because I was walking next to my sister who was holding hands with her perfect boyfriend- both of them practically had love oozing out of their ears which made me feel worse about myself. But maybe it was the atmosphere of sadness that hung over the entire campus. School was winding down, and picking colleges and universities was stressing people out- people were saying goodbye to their friends like they would never see them again once school ends. Yet freedom was so close it was touchable, taste-able. Signs of it were everywhere. Posters crowded together on the cafeteria walls, and the trashcan wore a colorful skirt of spilled-over fliers: reminders to buy yearbooks, class rings, and announcements; deadlines to order graduation gowns, hats, and tassels; neon-bright sales pitches- the junior campaigning for class office;ominous, rose-wreathed advertisements for this year's prom. The big dance was this coming weekend, but I had an ironclad promise from both Alice and Jessica that they would not try to set me up with anyone. I avoided Mike Newton as I stepped into the lunch line- he had been asking me to Prom for the past three weeks. Not that he was a bad guy; don't get me wrong he's great, just a wee bit on the annoying side. I quickly yanked out my phone- pretending to look busy as Mike passed by, he opened his mouth to say something but I lifted the phone up to my ear and greeting the "person" on the other line. He waved it off seeing I was busy, and joined the others at the table. I shoved my phone in my pocket and picked up a tray.

Calculus homework is an asshole, a complete and utter asshole. What made it worse was I could hear Bella giggling in the room next to mine. Obviously Edwardo is over. I groaned, slamming the text book shut and rolling over in my bed. Not only did Bella continue to giggle- it got louder. Sick of listening to them I rushed out of my room and down the creaky stairs, passing Charlie who sat on the couch with a beer in hand. "I'll be back by nine-thirty." I promise him, throwing on my jacket. "Where to?" He questioned, placing the beer bottle down. "No clue." I answered before taking off outside.


End file.
